A Birthday Party for Z

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PurelySimple #CollectiveBiasWhen I started planning Zoey’s birthday party this year I knew I wanted it to be something really special, last year she had no idea what was going on when we gave her a cake and presents. This year I knew she would really enjoy a birthday party and would understand what was going on, so I wanted to make her feel extra special and spoiled on her day.

For me the center of the celebration had to be the cake! I have seen the trend of un-iced wedding cakes going around and thought it would be fun to transform that into a birthday theme. I also am obsessed with the idea of a seven layer rainbow cake and thought it was the perfect occasion to try my hand at it. It worked out WAY better than I anticipated so I decided to share a tutorial/recipe with you all on how to make it in case anyone else wants to try it.

For my recipe you really only need a few things: 4 boxes of Pillsbury Purely Simple White Cake Mix, 2-3 cans Pillsbury Buttercream Frosting and some natural food coloring (I used pink and purple). I picked everything up at Krogers – I love it when I can do a one stop shopping trip!

How To Make a 7 Layer Rainbow Cake Un-iced

1. Prepare one box of Pillsbury Purely Simple cake batter according to the directions on the back of the box.
2. Once the batter for the first box is complete divide it in half into two bowls.
3. Leave one bowl as is and add one scoop of pink natural food coloring to the second bowl.
4. Pour each in a separate greased round baking pan.
5. Cook according to directions.
6. While those are cooking prepare the batter for the second box and divide into two bowls once again.
7. In one bowl put two scoops of pink food coloring, in the second bowl put three scoops, this way each layer is getting progressively darker.
8. Cook the second two according to directions. You should have four cakes at this point white, light pink, medium pink and dark pink.
9. Repeat steps 1-8 for the second two cake mixes, except this time set aside the bowl of batter with no food coloring from this batch and use the purple natural food coloring. By the end you should have three pink cakes, 3 purple cakes and one white cake. I used the remaining bowl of batter to make 12 cupcakes in pink and purple cupcake papers to match!
10. Once the cakes are cooked allow them to cool.
11. Before creating the cake start by cutting a circle out of paper that is slightly smaller than the cakes themselves.
12. To create each layer first remove the cake tops with a serrated knife so that they are flat on top, then place the paper circle on top of the cake and cut around the edge. You should end up with seven clean edged, round cakes with flat tops. The extra cake you cut off can be discarded – or if you feel ambitious layer the different colors with berries and whip cream in a glass bowl and make a truffle!
13. I layered my cake this way: white, light pink, light purple, medium pink, medium purple, dark pink and last dark purple. Before placing the first layer put a few dabs of icing on the tray to hold it in place, this icing should not be visible so place it near the center of the platter.
14. Put the first layer on the platter with the bottom of the cake facing up (the bottom is a little easier to ice than the freshly cut top). Using a spatula spread a generous layer of buttercream icing, it should come off the edges of the round only a little. Place the second layer on top, bottom up as well and repeat the process till you have reached the top of the cake. By the end the icing should be slightly spilling over the sides of each layer. I only used two cans of icing, but I cut it really close and I think things would have been easier with three!
15. To garnish I did little flowers of pink icing around the edge, you can use Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Strawberry Icing for this. I also think it would have looked great with a swirling layer of buttercream icing on top – I just ran out! Either way will look fantastic so do what you like best.

The collage below shows the entire process step by step! 15 steps sounds like a lot, but it is actually quite easy. Anyone can make this cake, but if you aren’t a professional cake maker (I am definitely not!) then you should plan at least a couple hours to finish the cake.

Since I put so much effort into the perfect cake I focused on no prep appetizers and decorations for the rest of the party. The cupcakes from the extra batter only took a few minutes to ice and I displayed them on an adorable cupcake platter! I also bought cream puffs, some pink candies to fill a cute jar and I made some white candy covered strawberries. For party favors I put colorful swirl lollipops in half a styrofoam globe with a little thank you sticker on each, and for drinks I did pink lemonade in a masonry pitcher with a matching mason jar to hold the straws.

The decorations were as simple as a white disposable table cloth and some pink streamers hanging from table edge and as a backdrop! When I set up I made the cake the focal point and arranged everything around it. The results were so much better than I expected and it was actually quite simple to put together. Also, the seven layer cake turned out to be DIVINE. The Pillsbury Purely Simple mix has no colors, preservatives, artificial flavors or bleached flour and so it really gives off that homemade, from-scratch taste. Combined with thick layers of buttercream… Mmmmmm. It was melt in your mouth delicious. Zoey has been asking for cake daily since her party.

Someone made the comment to me that I was setting the bar too high with this party and that I was setting myself up to disappoint my daughter with future parties. I love that it looks like that, you would think it took a ton of work and planning, but the whole party only took me 4-5 hours to prepare from start to finish! This is a party that could easily be recreated for a baby shower or a tea party, or even just for an extra special family get together.  Planning a party soon? Use this coupon to get 50 cents off a Pillsbury Purely Simple cake or brownie mix (the coupon will be live from 10/19-11/15/15) and don’t forget to check out Pillsbury’s Facebook page for more fantastic recipe ideas!